Stenting, the practice of keeping arteries open with the insertion of small, metal tubes, is typically used to treat heart attack patients. Stents that are placed to solve problems that could be addressed by other means may stress the heart, causing to cardiac complications and eventual death, according to the report.
As few as 15 percent but as many as more than 30 percent of the 700,000 stents performed annually in the U.S. could be unnecessary, according to several experts interviewed by Bloomberg. According to the Healthcare Blue Book, a website tracking reimbursements, the average stenting reimbursement from a private insurer is $25,000.
An expert from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles told Bloomberg these stents may cause more than $2.4 billion in unnecessary costs to the healthcare system each year.
Bloomberg reports cardiac stents were linked to deaths in 773 incident reports submitted to the Food and Drug Administration in 2012, up 71 percent from the same measure in 2008, though the FDA has declined to comment on whether these numbers are cause for concern.
The stenting controversy has surfaced in at least 11 hospitals nationwide, and the federal government has become involved in investigating some of the cases over allegations of antikickback and false claims violations as well as medical malpractice, according to the report.
Since 2007, following a study — the Courage study — in which researchers determined stenting is no more effective than diet, exercise and medication management, the number of stenting procedures performed in the U.S. has decreased by approximately 20 percent, according to the report.
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